Midnight Castle Hidden Object Puzzles (HOP)
Hidden Object Puzzles (HOP), often called Hidden Object Scenes (HOS), are at the heart of the game play in Midnight Castle. Often, to complete a Character Quest or to gain a necessary Inventory Item/Artifact, a Player will have to access a HOP. Each Hidden Object Puzzle gives the Player a list at the bottom of the Items the Player must find. When a Player completes a HOP, he or she receives Gold Coins as a reward, finds an Inventory Item/Artifact associated with that particular HOP, and may also receive additional Inventory Items -- a Stamp, Pet Food, or an Airship Item. Midnight Castle's HOPs are a bit different, in that they have levels. After you complete the HOP enough times, it advances a level. This will give more Items that need to be found in the puzzle, and increases the recharge time, but also increases the Gold Coin reward for solving the HOP. At the maximum level, HOPs in Midnight Castle take an hour to recharge (so a Player must wait an hour before he or she can access that HOP again) and give 50 Gold Coins. Icon levelho 1.png|'Hidden Object Puzzle - Level One' Icon levelho 2.png|'Hidden Object Puzzle - Level Two' Icon levelho 3.png|'Hidden Object Puzzle - Level Three' Icon levelho 4.png|'Hidden Object Puzzle - Level Four' Icon levelho 5.png|'Hidden Object Puzzle - Level Five' There is a Multiplier at the top left of the screen. The faster a Player clicks on Items one after the other, the higher the points gained for each Item collected (the base point value given for an Item is 1,000). NOTE: As of this writing, there is NO REASON to try to gain high scores in the HOPs. It increases the recharge time significantly which makes some of the Quests take longer, a frustration that is not offset by the modest increase in the Gold Coin reward. The 'i' button next to the Pause button on the top right, when clicked, pauses the game and displays the Inventory Items/Artifacts the HOP might give a player. The timer is also on the right. On the bottom left, there is a Crystal Ball, which highlights all the currently visible Items on the list, and the Wand, which collects all the currently visible Items on the list. NOTE: ' Gathering all six visible Items at one time with the Wand disables the Multiplier benefit for those Items, for anyone who is trying to gain a high score, though the Items collected afterward will work as usual with the Multiplier function. The Crystal Ball and Wand can be used only once per HOP. Crystalball.png|'Crystal Ball - Shows all items from the list. Wand.png|'Wand - Collects all items from the list.' To the right of the Item list on the bottom there is a Hint feature. If a Player clicks on the stained-glass Bat, it will fly into the HOP, settle on, and highlight an Item. It takes two minutes for the Hint to recharge. NOTE: The Hint Bat recharge time is matched to the time a Player spends in a HOP (it does not have to be the same HOP) -- not the time in the game. Bat hint.png|'Hint Bat - found on the bottom ride side of the HOS screen' Diamonds and HOPs Diamonds are a special currency in Midnight Castle. They can be used to purchase needed Items in the Laboratory for crafting (if a Player has none of the Item), to purchase Items to gift to Friends (again, if a Player has none of the Item), and to purchase time. Diamonds can be spent to speed up recharge times on many features in Midnight Castle from how long it takes for a HOP to recharge, to how long it takes to access the Game Table, to how long it takes for a Pet to complete a nap after finding a Treasure Chest, and more. To spend Diamonds in this way, click on the Lightning Bolt to the left of the number of Diamonds that will be spent. NOTE: Most places DO NOT CONFIRM that the Player intends to spend Diamonds, so be careful! Diamonds are one of the two game play features that can be purchased for real money in Midnight Castle, the other one being Gold Coins. To purchase either, click on the plus sign (+) to the right of the total number of Diamonds and Gold Coins displayed on the top right of the main Player screen. Category:Midnight Castle Hidden Object Puzzles (HOP)